SPORTS BRIEFS

Agencies

TENNIS

Capriati faces assault charge

Former tennis world No. 1 Jennifer Capriati is facing battery charges and possible arrest after being accused of stalking and punching an ex-boyfriend on Valentine’s Day. Capriati, a three-time Grand Slam champion who won 14 titles and earned gold at the 1992 Olympics, had an altercation with Ivan Brannan at the Oxygen Health & Wellness gym in North Palm Beach, Florida, on Feb. 14, the local police department said. While Brannan was working out, Capriati, 36, “started screaming” at him, before punching him, a police report said. A yoga instructor then stopped the former tennis pro from continuing to punch Brannan and the 28-year-old locked himself in the men’s locker room and called 911. Brannan, a former Florida State University golfer, had red marks on his chest from the incident, the police report said. While filling out an affidavit, “his hands were physically shaking,” it added. “It was very apparent that he was in fear of physical harm.” Brannan, who dated Capriati from May 2011 to February last year, told police that Capriati began harassing and stalking him shortly after the couple broke up. He also later brought officers documentation of seven other altercations with the former tennis pro. The North Palm Beach Police Department requested an arrest warrant for Capriati, though it has not yet been issued by the court.

BOXING

Police to question Singh

Police in India’s Punjab State reportedly plan to question Olympic boxing bronze medalist Vijender Singh as part of an investigation into a drug haul of more than US$25 million from an international network. Top police official Hardyal Singh Mann was widely quoted in the Indian media yesterday as saying one of two men arrested with 26kg of heroin told police that two boxers, sparring partners Vijender Singh and Ram Singh, were his clients. Ram Singh was expelled from India’s National Institute of Sports in the northern city of Patiala over the weekend after he admitted that he had used drugs, the Press Trust of India reported. He has not been charged. Vijender Singh has denied that he ever used drugs or that he had any links with the international drug ring.

BOXING

Uchiyama, Kono to defend

WBA super featherweight champion Takashi Uchiyama and super flyweight champion Kohei Kono will defend their titles in May, their gym said yesterday. The two bouts will take place in Tokyo on May 6. It will be Uchiyama’s seventh defense of the title he wrested from Juan Carlos Salgado of Mexico in January 2010. Uchiyama, unbeaten at 19 wins, including 16 KOs and one draw, will take on 10th-ranked Jaider Parra of Venezuela. Kono will fight interim champion Liborio Solis of Venezuela, ranked top in the WBA.

SKIING

Chapuis wins ski cross title

Jean Frederic Chapuis surprisingly won the men’s ski cross title at the freestyle world championships in Norway on Sunday, beating fellow Frenchman Bastien Midol in the final for his first major victory. John Teller of the US took bronze, while the fourth finalist, Jouni Pellinen of Finland, fell and failed to finish. Chapuis has never won a World Cup event, with a third-place finish in Germany last year his best finish. In the women’s race, 20-year-old Fanny Smith of Switzerland beat reigning World Cup champion Marielle Thompson of Canada, with Ophelie David of France taking bronze. Smith needed a strong comeback in the semi-finals, when she was in last position, but managed to finish second to reach the final.